The end of the school year is quickly approaching. One of my favorite stories to share is Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg. In this story, the children come up with a plan to make sure their teacher won’t be sad and miss them over the summer. But Mrs. Hartwell and the other teachers have some plans of their own. I have a couple of freebies you can use with this story.
All About Last Day Blues
It’s hard to say good-bye at the end of the school year, especially when you have Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell for a teacher! As the last day gets closer, the class comes up with a plan to make sure their teacher won’t be sad and miss them. But Mrs. Hartwell and the other teachers have some plans of their own!
Since I tend to share First Day Jitters with my class at the beginning of the year, I love to share Last Day Blues at the end of the year. I love that this story shares both the anticipation of summer vacation along with reflection about all of the wonderful memories that are made during the school year!
Activities to Use with Last Day Blues
Here are eight questions to help guide your discussion while reading the story. These questions can be used before, during, and after the story. You’ll also find a graphic organizer to help students retell the story using beginning, middle, and end.
Kids vs. Teacher is an activity to help students focus on point-of-view in this story.
Throughout the story, the students in Mrs. Hartwell’s class reflect back on their school year. Your students can reflect on their own classroom memories, too!
You can grab all of the freebies mentioned above here. I hope you enjoy them!
Please note – I do update this resource to show the current school year. If it hasn’t been updated by the time you need it, drop a comment below and I’ll try to update it soon.
If you don’t already have a copy of Last Day Blues in your school or classroom library, you can find it on Amazon.
Be sure to check out all of the stories in the Mrs. Hartwell’s Classroom Adventures series!
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If you’re looking for even more great books to read at the end of the school year, be sure to check out this post.
Happy Teaching!

Thanks for the freebie! Will there be an updated one for this school year? Thanks so much!
Hi Julia,
I just updated the link for the 2020-2021 school year. Please try downloading it again.
Storie